[Spotlight] North Carolina Street Heat

J.O.T. Records founder and member of North Carolina Street Heat James Terry (aka Grande Gato) announced that the group has a new reggaeton album out this month called “Reggaeton Para Vida.” The album is now available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, Tidal and C.D.

Terry said the group had performed songs from the new album at various nightclubs in both North Carolina and Miami. Terry also said North Carolina Street Heat would be touring internationally, for the first time, with a show in Cuba on Memorial Day weekend of this year. He said the group would be performing the song “Tengo mi Pasaporte.” Terry said North Carolinians and Winston-Salem fans should not to fret because Street Heat will be performing on Oct. 1 at The Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, located at 2825 University Pkwy. in Winston-Salem.

“We’ve been doing Miami gigs for years, and we have performed the reggaeton down there, and eventually we made some Cuban connections down there, and one guy I have been talking to we have finally set it up,” Terry said. “It is funny; it will be our first international show, I am really excited for that.”

Terry also said North Carolina Street Heat has their own line of shoes now. As a part of “Grande Gato Gear,” the shoes are black, leather tennis shoes made in Italy with the North Carolina Street Heat logo on the top. Terry said at the moment, the shoes are only available in the low-top form, but he will be designing a high top version soon.

“I’ve always been kind of dabbling in clothing for the group,” Terry said. “We started out with T-shirts at first, then we got into hats, and then I started dabbling in leather, then I tried my hand at shoes, and I got a good response for it when I posted it on Facebook.”

Terry also said he has just released a book about North Carolina Street Heat called “North Carolina Street Heat El Libro.” Terry said the book chronicles the group’s story throughout the years. Terry said there are limited copies of the book available now.

“It is really an interesting book, anyone who wants a real deeper insight to North Carolina Street Heat,” he said.

Terry graduated from North Carolina State University has a degree in audio production and communication. He said he has been able to apply his college education to his passion. Terry started out as a DJ but slowly evolved into a rapper and a “man of many hats.”

“A lot of that is due to finance because you don’t have money for a producer, don’t have money for a rapper, street team,” he said. “Believe it or not, (we have never had a manager) and I book all of our gigs, and through the years I got good at it. It is kind of funny the story; we did not do it the traditional way– i.e., no manager, street team– I was the street team, I talked to everybody directly, everything is hands on. I like it like that, I have learned a lot that way.”

North Carolina Street Heat has several vinyl projects out titled “North Carolina Street Heat Vol. 1-7.” Terry said those are sold at Earshot Records (located at 3254 Silas Creek Parkway, Silas Creek Crossing in Winston-Salem), Underdog Records (located at 835 Burke St. in Winston-Salem), Center For Better Grooves or “CFBG” (located at 1827 Spring Garden St. in Greensboro) and Schoolkids Records (located in the Triangle area).

North Carolina Street Heat shoes can be ordered online at www.northcarolinastreetheat.com or through his record label site, www.JOTrecords.com.